This disclosure relates generally to online content distribution, and more specifically to presentation of relevant content items to a user synchronized with media (e.g., a video) being viewed or watched by the user.
Content providers produce content that is targeted to certain audiences within online systems. Users interact with content received from the online system. With the advent of online systems such as social networking systems, content providers have increasingly relied on the online systems to create effective sponsored content within the online system to greatly increase engagement among users of the online systems. For example, a user may use a user device (e.g., a smartphone) to watch videos, e.g., a live broadcast video of soccer games or a prerecorded video of soccer games, and the user may be interested in some products that are presented in the video (e.g., sports jersey a player in the soccer game is wearing) and want to learn more about the products while watching the video, for example, the price of the products. Additionally, the viewing user may be interested in purchasing products presented in the video after watching the video, but he/she may be unable to recall all the products in which he/she was interested while watching the video. However, current solutions of online content distribution do not provide a platform that enables users to watch a video or an online event (e.g., live video streaming of an event or a prerecorded video from a content provider) while exploring relevant products that are likely of interest to the users in a synchronized way.
The figures and the following description describe certain embodiments by way of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following description that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles described herein. Reference will now be made in detail to several embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying figures. It is noted that wherever practicable similar or like reference numbers may be used in the figures to indicate similar or like functionality